WTI is sitting at $96 a barrel today, up for the third straight session. But if you're working the Bakken right now, the number that actually matters is bigger than that.
Bakken light sweet crude at Patoka, Illinois is trading at a $9.50 premium over Cushing WTI. DAPL receipt points are at +$5.60 over benchmark. Six months ago that same barrel was selling at a $6.61 discount under WTI. That's a $16 swing in six months — and it's being driven by a war.
The Iran conflict broke global supply. Buyers who used to pull cheap Middle Eastern crude are now scrambling for light sweet barrels from anywhere they can get them. We produce it. The world wants it. And for once the Bakken is on the right side of that trade.
What the Numbers Show
- WTI ~$96/bbl — up 3 straight sessions on US-Iran war tensions
- Bakken light sweet at Patoka: +$9.50 over Cushing WTI
- DAPL receipt points: +$5.60 over benchmark
- Six months ago: $6.61 UNDER WTI — that's a $16 swing
- US crude inventories down 3.3M barrels last week — 6th straight weekly draw per EIA
What It's Doing to the Basin
- North Dakota rig count: 26 → 29 and climbing per Baker Hughes/DMR
- Frac crews: 7 in December → 13 today — nearly doubled off the low
- Continental Resources back to drilling — first time in 30 years they went dark was January 2026. Harold Hamm said at the Williston Basin Petroleum Conference on May 21: "A great deal has changed."
- DAPL final federal approval signed May 21 — the Army Corps of Engineers ended a 9-year legal battle. That pipeline moves ~540,000 barrels a day out of the Bakken. It isn't going anywhere.
- North Dakota producing 1.142 million barrels a day — 19,639 producing wells. All-time record is 1.52 million.
More frac crews means more completions. More completions means more wireline. More wireline means overtime. The basin is opening again and the math finally works.
One honest note: operators locked their 2026 capital budgets before this price spike. The full ramp is a 2027 story. But activity is moving right now and crews are thin. If you've been waiting to come back, this is the window.
What's it looking like out your windshield today...drop a field report below.